Frank Lampard is convinced Norwich City can sustain a Championship promotion push – but Daniel Farke is refusing to buy into the hype.

The former Chelsea and England midfielder admitted he was impressed by the Canaries after a hard fought 1-1 midweek league tussle at Pride Park.

City were pegged back late on but returned to the top six by extending their unbeaten run to eight games.

“It is a close league. For us it is important to stand with both feet on the ground, to stay calm,” said Farke. “Even on this run of eight games unbeaten and six away games, which is outstanding, all those games were just decided by one goal so we have to fight until the last second.

“The league is so close, there is no time to enjoy yourself or be over self-confident. You have to remain focused and look to go further on.

“Especially when you keep in mind we finished last season in mid-table, had to sell our best players before this season, and you are then playing with such a young team. There is normally mistakes and setbacks when you go this way and I am pretty sure we will not win every game from here.

“I am very, very happy with the points we have. That is good for the situation in the table but let’s see how far we can go on.”

Lampard’s brief is to get Derby into the Premier League, and he is tipping Norwich to be one of their challengers.

“It is hard to call right now whether Norwich will be there come the end. You can throw a blanket over many teams in this league but the way they are playing, yes, they have a great chance,” he said. “They are the form team in the league. Norwich City is on a good run, they are playing well, they look confident and they tried to play out against us.

“At this moment, they are competitors so a point isn’t the worst. It is not a bad result. We have had other games where that wasn’t the case.

“We conceded a poor goal at a key time in the game and it takes personality and quality to come back. We are a work in progress. A fair result for me but with that feeling at the end we could have won the game as we finished so strongly.

“But I was happy with the character and desire to get back in the game against a good team.”

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